Antibody mediated epitope mimicry in the pathogenesis of Zika virus related disease

Abstract

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Zika virus infection as a cause of congenital brain abnormalities and Guillain-Barré syndrome: systematic review

“…Twenty-eight items [36, 37, 41, 43–45, 47, 48, 51, 58, 59, 61–65, 68, 70, 71, 74, 76, 78, 81, 83, 85, 87, 91, 97–99] in 25 groups addressed seven questions about this dimension of causality (S4a Table). The studies suggest several biologically plausible effects of Zika virus transmission in utero.…”

“…We found 35 items belonging to 31 groups that addressed questions related to Guillain-Barré syndrome [61–64, 74, 84, 107–129]. We summarise the findings according to clinical characteristics of 117 individuals diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome in case reports, case series without control groups and case-control studies in Table 4.…”

“…We reviewed six items [61, 109, 118, 119, 121, 123] in four groups that addressed two of three questions about biologically plausible mechanisms by which Zika virus could act as a trigger of Guillain-Barré syndrome (S5a Table). Anti-ganglioside antibodies, whose presence supports the clinical diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome, were found in the serum of a third of patients in a case-control study in French Polynesia [119] and in one patient from Venezuela [118].…”

Towards peptide vaccines against Zika virus: Immunoinformatics combined with molecular dynamics simulations to predict antigenic epitopes of Zika viral proteins

“…ZIKV has been identified by PCR in fetuses, and Zika virus particles have been detected by electron microscopy in the fetal central nervous system in high concentrations5. The fact that GBS and Zika fetal syndrome occur simultaneously, suggests that these syndromes might share a common etiology such as an autoimmune response that targets neurologic functions, raising the possibility of epitope mimicry1213. Furthermore, high viral loads of ZIKV identified in the semen of infected patients, have indicated the possibility of its transmission by sexual means14.…”

“…These targets have been recognized to have a major role in viral entry into the cell and in viral replication1516. The risk associated with autoimmune responses to potential epitope mimics must be addressed in the development of vaccines and therapeutics for Zika virus infections13. Availability of genomic and immunological data and computer algorithms has brought about a more efficient process in vaccine development that allows for identification of possible epitopes which can assist the production of effective subunit vaccines171819.…”